May 27, 1942 -
There was no Night action of any kind this turn. My subs are either in the wrong locations or else my opponent is focussing upon Ground Attacks instead of Invasions.
Daylight brought a big Japanese Air Attack from Mandalay against the pitifully inadequate Allied troops at Bhamo. An big Oscar unit accompanied a lot of bombers. Two British Hurricanes came over from Myitkyina, but upon seeing the scale of the Japanese attack the Brit pilots wisely went home.
Other Japanese Air Attacks hit Dutch stragglers in Borneo and also Chinese troops that are starving in Yenan.
And a Glen appeared again over Dutch Harbor. My build up in the Gulf of Alaska continues at a break-neck pace, with the exception of the building of the Air Field at Dutch Harbor, which is crawling along at a snail's pace. All of the other bases in the region have been built up quickly to at least Level 2 Airfields, but Dutch Harbor continues to be a real pain. I keep on shoving in more Engineers, so I will get to Level 1 eventually, but all-in-all that Base doesn't seem like a good place to have a General HQ for the region.
The only Ground Action was at Bhamo where a Japanese Infantry Regiment and an Engineering Regiment did a Deliberate attack. They achieved a 3:1 result and reduced the Fortifications from L3 to L1. Considering that the Defenders consist of a little Burmese Rifles unit and the British Base Force that was already kicked out of Lashio, thing aren't going that badly. Sure, the Allied troops ought to get kicked out next turn, but the road to Myitkyina is still open so they will just do what so many of their compatriots have done and start the long, slow crawl through the Jungle to India.
BTW – the Japanese column at Katha has started to move towards Myitkyina. I have to keep on reminding myself that; “It's only a holding action. It's only a holding action.” and not get too caught up with the defence of Myitkyina. The Burmese 1st Division is there and has been for months, along with its HQ, an AA unit and a Base Force. They are all 100% prepped for Myitkyina and the Forts are at Level 4. So they ought to slow down the Japanese for a while unless my opponent gets a couple of lucky dice rolls, and/or brings up a second Infantry Division.
In other news, a lot of B-17E squadrons showed up at March Field this turn. That would be Great News, except for the fact that those units will be permanently withdrawn in Three Weeks.
Uh, what's the point? [8|][&:]
There is no use in considering “rushing” them to the Front, because the great majority of the pilots in the squadrons have experience levels of 40 or less. And because their “withdrawal” messages are already “orange”, I can't swap out any of the B-17s for less useful bombers. So I just picked out the few pilots with experience in the 50s, and set all of the groups to ASW/Search. My opponent isn't bothering to send subs to the West Coast any more, but I'll leave the Bomber Squadrons like this for a couple of weeks and then send them back.
BTW II – It is looking more and more that my opponent's excursion into Northern Oz is pretty much just a nuisance ploy to try to get me to panic and send lots of Forces there. I guess that he did succeed to a small extent because I am currently moving one of the two good Australian Infantry Division from India to Oz, but I haven't sent much else that way except for some of the US Tank Destroyer units. (I can't see any other place where much Japanese Armour has appeared, so it can't hurt to have the US units in Oz for whenever I finally start a Counter-Attack.)
So right now my main guess is that my opponent is still planning One Last expansion into the Bay of Bengal, but I don't yet know whether this will be yet another nuisance attack or a serious attempt to make Big Gains in India.
Last Stand at San Diego (no Richard please)
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
Helens Enter the War
May 28, 1942 -
After several quite nights Allied subs got back into action, and some of that action was very painful:
- First off, USS Seadragon fired off a set of dud torpedoes against a TK near Balikpapan.
- Then Dutch sub KXVII hit a mine at Tandjoengpinang. The unlucky sub soon flooded and sank.
- Then USS Sealion hit a TK with its second try off of Singkep.
- Then USS Perch hit another mine at Tandjoengpinang. The US sub is attempting to limp to an unoccupied Allied base in Sumatra because there is no way that it will make it back to Colombo.
- Finally, Skipjack fired at and missed a DD in a CA/CL/DD TF off of Oosthaven.
So my opponent did a very smart move there because he has effectively blocked the direct route from Colombo to the north shore of Borneo and all the shipping routes in that region. Too bad that I don't have a mine-sweeping sub.
Daylight brought a bit of welcome vengeance on the part of the Allied Air Forces as the British Hurricane IIbs in Myitkyina confirmed that “what is good for the goose is good for the gander”. The weather was lousy but my opponent sent off a series of Air Attacks against Myitkyina anyway. But the Attacks became split up.
The first Japanese attack to reach Myitkyina had 16 Zeros in it while 8 Hurricanes flew High Altitude CAP. Two Zeros were shot down against the loss of 1 Hurricane. Next two more Zeros flew in and were jumped by 7 Hurricanes, but there were no losses. Then in the afternoon 14 more Zeros flew in and were again met by 8 Hurricanes. Two more Zeros were shot down. Afterwards some bombers escorted by Oscars flew in but there was no more CAP and they only had to deal with some flak and hit the Air Fields lightly.
BTW – that was the first appearance of Helens on a Combat Mission in the War.
When I looked at the Air Losses later it turns out that around a dozen Zeros were lost to A-to-A and Operational losses, while the single Hurricane loss held up. My opponent made some grumpy comments about “diving”, but he did grudgingly admit that this did appear to affect both sides. (Which is a good thing, or I would have written back and asked him if he “could spell Tennant Creek”... [;)]) So I just mentioned back to him that as far as I knew, Air Combat was being “changed” again in the next patch. Will it be changed “for the better”, changed “for the worse”, or just “changed for the sake of change”? Who knows until we see it. In the meanwhile, I moved more Hurricane IIb squadrons forward and moved the squadrons with less “stratospheric” maximum altitudes further back.
There was other Japanese air action too. Tennant Creek was hit by bombers escorted by Oscars, Dutch stragglers were hit again in Borneo, and Oscars Swept the empty sky over Sian.
As expected, the Japanese troops at Bhamo kicked out the Allied troops this turn and captured the base. So I have the two small and beat-up units on the March to Myitkyina, from where they will then get to spend a month slogging through the jungle to one of the Rail Bases in India.
The Big News this turn was that the Forts at Midway reached Level 5. If my opponent attempts to invade Midway at this late date he might receive a quite unpleasant surprise.
After several quite nights Allied subs got back into action, and some of that action was very painful:
- First off, USS Seadragon fired off a set of dud torpedoes against a TK near Balikpapan.
- Then Dutch sub KXVII hit a mine at Tandjoengpinang. The unlucky sub soon flooded and sank.
- Then USS Sealion hit a TK with its second try off of Singkep.
- Then USS Perch hit another mine at Tandjoengpinang. The US sub is attempting to limp to an unoccupied Allied base in Sumatra because there is no way that it will make it back to Colombo.
- Finally, Skipjack fired at and missed a DD in a CA/CL/DD TF off of Oosthaven.
So my opponent did a very smart move there because he has effectively blocked the direct route from Colombo to the north shore of Borneo and all the shipping routes in that region. Too bad that I don't have a mine-sweeping sub.
Daylight brought a bit of welcome vengeance on the part of the Allied Air Forces as the British Hurricane IIbs in Myitkyina confirmed that “what is good for the goose is good for the gander”. The weather was lousy but my opponent sent off a series of Air Attacks against Myitkyina anyway. But the Attacks became split up.
The first Japanese attack to reach Myitkyina had 16 Zeros in it while 8 Hurricanes flew High Altitude CAP. Two Zeros were shot down against the loss of 1 Hurricane. Next two more Zeros flew in and were jumped by 7 Hurricanes, but there were no losses. Then in the afternoon 14 more Zeros flew in and were again met by 8 Hurricanes. Two more Zeros were shot down. Afterwards some bombers escorted by Oscars flew in but there was no more CAP and they only had to deal with some flak and hit the Air Fields lightly.
BTW – that was the first appearance of Helens on a Combat Mission in the War.
When I looked at the Air Losses later it turns out that around a dozen Zeros were lost to A-to-A and Operational losses, while the single Hurricane loss held up. My opponent made some grumpy comments about “diving”, but he did grudgingly admit that this did appear to affect both sides. (Which is a good thing, or I would have written back and asked him if he “could spell Tennant Creek”... [;)]) So I just mentioned back to him that as far as I knew, Air Combat was being “changed” again in the next patch. Will it be changed “for the better”, changed “for the worse”, or just “changed for the sake of change”? Who knows until we see it. In the meanwhile, I moved more Hurricane IIb squadrons forward and moved the squadrons with less “stratospheric” maximum altitudes further back.
There was other Japanese air action too. Tennant Creek was hit by bombers escorted by Oscars, Dutch stragglers were hit again in Borneo, and Oscars Swept the empty sky over Sian.
As expected, the Japanese troops at Bhamo kicked out the Allied troops this turn and captured the base. So I have the two small and beat-up units on the March to Myitkyina, from where they will then get to spend a month slogging through the jungle to one of the Rail Bases in India.
The Big News this turn was that the Forts at Midway reached Level 5. If my opponent attempts to invade Midway at this late date he might receive a quite unpleasant surprise.
Some Successful Sub Attacks
May 29, 1942 -
Allied subs returned to successful action this turn, although it didn't start out looking so promising. First off USS Sturgeon shot four torpedoes at an xAKL near Miri, but the ones that hit were duds. Then the Sturgeon's captain decided to do things the right way and surfaced to attack another unescorted xAKL in the same local. The Sturgeon's gunners hit the freighter with 9 shells, leaving it burning. But the Japanese gunners hit the Sturgeon once in return, so that combined with a shortage of shells and torpedoes caused the Sturgeon's skipper to break off the attack and head for repairs and ammo.
Next, Dutch sub O19 hit an xAK near Billiton with two torpedoes. Later on during the day O19 hit another xAK in the same locale with another torpedo. So now 019 is also heading home for ammo.
Daylight Air Attacks started out with an Oscar-escorted Lily attack on Tennant Creek. As usual, the Japanese bombers landed a few hits on the Airfields, but nothing major. Afterwards, Dutch stragglers were hit in Borneo again, and some Oscars swept over Yenan. (I suspect that my opponent doesn't realize that I no longer have a Base Force in Yenan. And even if I did I wouldn't base any planes there because the base has no Supply.)
This turn's Allied Air Attack was on the Airfields at Charter Towers. I sent the B-17Es from Brisbane and as expected, a handful of Zeros covered the base via LR CAP. My opponent hasn't put any LCUs in Charter Towers, so it makes a good Practice Target. As I had hoped, my Bombers blew past the Zeros and hit the Airfields nicely. My opponent lost 4 Zeros to Operational Losses, however, I lost one B-17 too, so it wasn't as “perfect” a raid as I would have liked.
What was very interesting, and rather satisfying, was that there were no Japanese flights over Myitkyina, or any other Allied base in the Indo/Burma border region. Maybe I've discouraged my opponent just a little. (Never-the-less, he has brought more fighters back to Mandalay, so I expect that he will attempt to overwhelm by shear numbers my CAP at some base sooner or later.)
BTW – my Recon says that there are now 40K+ worth of Japanese troops at Katha, so it looks as if my opponent has moved another Infantry Division there to assist in the attack on Myitkyina. It will be interesting to see how well he will be able to provide Supply for that attack.
Finally, SIGINT reported heavy radio traffic at a point just south of Nauru and Ocean Islands. I wonder what is sailing out there?
Allied subs returned to successful action this turn, although it didn't start out looking so promising. First off USS Sturgeon shot four torpedoes at an xAKL near Miri, but the ones that hit were duds. Then the Sturgeon's captain decided to do things the right way and surfaced to attack another unescorted xAKL in the same local. The Sturgeon's gunners hit the freighter with 9 shells, leaving it burning. But the Japanese gunners hit the Sturgeon once in return, so that combined with a shortage of shells and torpedoes caused the Sturgeon's skipper to break off the attack and head for repairs and ammo.
Next, Dutch sub O19 hit an xAK near Billiton with two torpedoes. Later on during the day O19 hit another xAK in the same locale with another torpedo. So now 019 is also heading home for ammo.
Daylight Air Attacks started out with an Oscar-escorted Lily attack on Tennant Creek. As usual, the Japanese bombers landed a few hits on the Airfields, but nothing major. Afterwards, Dutch stragglers were hit in Borneo again, and some Oscars swept over Yenan. (I suspect that my opponent doesn't realize that I no longer have a Base Force in Yenan. And even if I did I wouldn't base any planes there because the base has no Supply.)
This turn's Allied Air Attack was on the Airfields at Charter Towers. I sent the B-17Es from Brisbane and as expected, a handful of Zeros covered the base via LR CAP. My opponent hasn't put any LCUs in Charter Towers, so it makes a good Practice Target. As I had hoped, my Bombers blew past the Zeros and hit the Airfields nicely. My opponent lost 4 Zeros to Operational Losses, however, I lost one B-17 too, so it wasn't as “perfect” a raid as I would have liked.
What was very interesting, and rather satisfying, was that there were no Japanese flights over Myitkyina, or any other Allied base in the Indo/Burma border region. Maybe I've discouraged my opponent just a little. (Never-the-less, he has brought more fighters back to Mandalay, so I expect that he will attempt to overwhelm by shear numbers my CAP at some base sooner or later.)
BTW – my Recon says that there are now 40K+ worth of Japanese troops at Katha, so it looks as if my opponent has moved another Infantry Division there to assist in the attack on Myitkyina. It will be interesting to see how well he will be able to provide Supply for that attack.
Finally, SIGINT reported heavy radio traffic at a point just south of Nauru and Ocean Islands. I wonder what is sailing out there?
Some Unsuccessful Sub Attacks
May 30, 1942 -
Allied subs were active again during the Night phase, but they were not successful. USS Gudgeon shot a load of torpedoes at an xAK near Chiba, but the torpedoes that hit were duds. Then USS Silversides was first attacked by an ASW TF consisting of a couple of SCs. A little while later the Captain of the Silversides came back, took a better look, and then decided not to spend any torpedoes on the ASW ships anyway.
Day Phase action consisted solely of Japanese Air Raids. The first was yet another bombing run against Tennant Creek. This time the bombers hit some ground troops. It's too bad that all of my P-38 squadrons are in Hawaii, otherwise I'd bring a Surprise to play, even given the difficulty in keeping Tennant Creek supplied. Japanese bombers also hit Dutch stragglers in Borneo, and the Air Fields at Yenan. It doesn't look like my opponent intends to actually capture Yenan. Instead he seems to want to use it as a training ground.
The Big News this turn was that I received a number of LCUs that were spread nicely across the map. Most of the LCUs were Support Troops, but I am still glad to get them and I've got places for them to go immediately.
I was also pleased to find out that those short-visit B-17s can actually be Withdrawn and the pilots and more importantly, the Planes, go into the Pools. So I Withdrew all of the three-quarters empty squadrons which allowed me to replace two more squadrons of B-18s with B-17s. Afterwards, I checked out those short-visit B-25 squadrons that I received a while back, just in case I could put those planes into the Pool too, but for some reason I couldn't do the same thing with the Mitchells. So when I send the Mitchells off, they are gone.
My Base Building continues in the Gulf of Alaska. The Glens and Japanese subs appear to be gone again. My experiences playing the Japanese side have shown me how fragile Glens can be, so I'm not surprised that the Glen-subs aren't sticking around too long. One thing that my effort in Alaska has shown me is that I have to be very conscious of what sort of LCU I drop off where when base-building, and in what order. LCUs with large Support contingents don't unload very quickly. I only wish that I had more Port Services units – those have got to be the Absolutely Most Valuble units in the Allied LCU inventory. I need to be very, VERY careful to not lose those units.
Allied subs were active again during the Night phase, but they were not successful. USS Gudgeon shot a load of torpedoes at an xAK near Chiba, but the torpedoes that hit were duds. Then USS Silversides was first attacked by an ASW TF consisting of a couple of SCs. A little while later the Captain of the Silversides came back, took a better look, and then decided not to spend any torpedoes on the ASW ships anyway.
Day Phase action consisted solely of Japanese Air Raids. The first was yet another bombing run against Tennant Creek. This time the bombers hit some ground troops. It's too bad that all of my P-38 squadrons are in Hawaii, otherwise I'd bring a Surprise to play, even given the difficulty in keeping Tennant Creek supplied. Japanese bombers also hit Dutch stragglers in Borneo, and the Air Fields at Yenan. It doesn't look like my opponent intends to actually capture Yenan. Instead he seems to want to use it as a training ground.
The Big News this turn was that I received a number of LCUs that were spread nicely across the map. Most of the LCUs were Support Troops, but I am still glad to get them and I've got places for them to go immediately.
I was also pleased to find out that those short-visit B-17s can actually be Withdrawn and the pilots and more importantly, the Planes, go into the Pools. So I Withdrew all of the three-quarters empty squadrons which allowed me to replace two more squadrons of B-18s with B-17s. Afterwards, I checked out those short-visit B-25 squadrons that I received a while back, just in case I could put those planes into the Pool too, but for some reason I couldn't do the same thing with the Mitchells. So when I send the Mitchells off, they are gone.
My Base Building continues in the Gulf of Alaska. The Glens and Japanese subs appear to be gone again. My experiences playing the Japanese side have shown me how fragile Glens can be, so I'm not surprised that the Glen-subs aren't sticking around too long. One thing that my effort in Alaska has shown me is that I have to be very conscious of what sort of LCU I drop off where when base-building, and in what order. LCUs with large Support contingents don't unload very quickly. I only wish that I had more Port Services units – those have got to be the Absolutely Most Valuble units in the Allied LCU inventory. I need to be very, VERY careful to not lose those units.
Unsuccessful Subs, but Successful 4Es
May 31, 1942 -
The Night phase brought more “good try, but...” attacks by Allied subs. Off of Soerabaja O23 shot at CL Tenryu but missed. Then off of Hamamatsu USS Silversides once again spotted an ASW SC but the captain of the sub decided not to fire.
Daylight brought relative quiet. The only Japanese Air Attacks were on Yenan. Once again, there were a lot of Oscar flights followed by bombers. However, the nearby Japanese LCUs aren't moving towards Yenan. So it looks more and more like Yenan is being designated a Training Target by my opponent.
The Weather was “almost good” in Australia so my 4E bomber attacks against the Air Fields at Charter Towers took off as planned. However, they didn't reach the Target at the same time so the planned “coordinated” attack turned into four separate attacks instead. Fortunately, my opponent only had a few Zeros on LR CAP over Charter Towers so my Bomber Raids got through easily and hit the Air Fields hard. And as a bonus a Zero was shot down.
So there were no Air Raids by either side anywhere else. However, I've come up with an odd idea that I am going to test out next turn. I am going to send in some B-17s at their Max Altitude, which is higher than the Max Altitude of Oscars, and see if the B-17s “dive” the Japanese fighters! I don't really expect it to happen (and at that altitude I don't expect the Forts to hit their targets either) but it will be fun to see just what happens. [:D]
BTW – I hadn't realized just how many Allied ships become eligible for Upgrades in June 1942. They will certainly keep the Backwater ports busy for some time.
The Night phase brought more “good try, but...” attacks by Allied subs. Off of Soerabaja O23 shot at CL Tenryu but missed. Then off of Hamamatsu USS Silversides once again spotted an ASW SC but the captain of the sub decided not to fire.
Daylight brought relative quiet. The only Japanese Air Attacks were on Yenan. Once again, there were a lot of Oscar flights followed by bombers. However, the nearby Japanese LCUs aren't moving towards Yenan. So it looks more and more like Yenan is being designated a Training Target by my opponent.
The Weather was “almost good” in Australia so my 4E bomber attacks against the Air Fields at Charter Towers took off as planned. However, they didn't reach the Target at the same time so the planned “coordinated” attack turned into four separate attacks instead. Fortunately, my opponent only had a few Zeros on LR CAP over Charter Towers so my Bomber Raids got through easily and hit the Air Fields hard. And as a bonus a Zero was shot down.
So there were no Air Raids by either side anywhere else. However, I've come up with an odd idea that I am going to test out next turn. I am going to send in some B-17s at their Max Altitude, which is higher than the Max Altitude of Oscars, and see if the B-17s “dive” the Japanese fighters! I don't really expect it to happen (and at that altitude I don't expect the Forts to hit their targets either) but it will be fun to see just what happens. [:D]
BTW – I hadn't realized just how many Allied ships become eligible for Upgrades in June 1942. They will certainly keep the Backwater ports busy for some time.
RE: Bhamo Under Assault
You can swap them for any other aircraft you have in te pool... if you have them!
Cheers
Rob
Cheers
Rob
In other news, a lot of B-17E squadrons showed up at March Field this turn. That would be Great News, except for the fact that those units will be permanently withdrawn in Three Weeks.
Uh, what's the point?
AE BETA Breaker
RE: Bhamo Under Assault
ORIGINAL: jrcar
You can swap them for any other aircraft you have in te pool... if you have them!
Cheers
Rob
In other news, a lot of B-17E squadrons showed up at March Field this turn. That would be Great News, except for the fact that those units will be permanently withdrawn in Three Weeks.
Uh, what's the point?
Ah, the Great Question for the Allied player - where to get those few extra planes to allow you to swap our the better planes from those squadrons that will go away soon. [&:]
RE: Bhamo Under Assault
Yes, you are not allowed to loose any bombers 
It is a hard call, do those extra B-17 make the difference...
Cheers
Rob
It is a hard call, do those extra B-17 make the difference...
Cheers
Rob
AE BETA Breaker
RE: Bhamo Under Assault
ORIGINAL: jrcar
Yes, you are not allowed to loose any bombers
It is a hard call, do those extra B-17 make the difference...
Cheers
Rob
I've worked quite hard to not throw away bombers. For one, I haven't been using many as bombers so far. Almost all of my 2Es spend their time on Naval Search and ASW Patrol, and most of my 4Es spend their time on Naval Search. There aren't a lot of good targets for my bomber forces and I don't want to throw them away to Fighter Traps or Operational losses. And my opponent has been quite careful most of the time to avoid giving me any "gimmies".
But even with that it is hard to maintain full bomber squadrons and still have enough in the pools to do swap outs. Oh, for the Good Old Days of hundreds of 4Es in the pools in mid-1942...
June 1 Screen Caps - Intel
Here's the Intel Screen for June 1, 1942. Things haven't changed a lot, although my opponent is creeping up to a 2.5 to 1 ration in Victory Points:
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- IntelScreenJune1.jpg (254.31 KiB) Viewed 142 times
RE: June 1 Screen Caps - Air Losses
Here's the Air Losses Screen, in decending numbers of Total Losses:
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- TotalAirLosses.jpg (223.8 KiB) Viewed 142 times
RE: June 1 Screen Caps - China
Here's the situation in China:
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- ChinaJune1.jpg (396.02 KiB) Viewed 142 times
RE: June 1 Screen Caps - Indo-Burma
Here's the situation in the Indo-Burma region:
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- IndoBurmaJune1.jpg (359.64 KiB) Viewed 142 times
RE: June 1 Screen Caps - Northern Oz
Here's the situation in Northern Oz:
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- NorthernOzJune1.jpg (937.67 KiB) Viewed 142 times
RE: June 1 Screen Caps - N/E Oz
Here's the situation in Northeastern Oz:
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- NEOzJune1.jpg (725.4 KiB) Viewed 142 times
RE: June 1 Screen Caps - Gulf of Alaska
And here's the situation in the Gulf of Alaska:
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- GulfofAl..aJune1.jpg (560.8 KiB) Viewed 142 times
Subs Keeping Busy
June 1, 1942 -
The night phase started out with the dot island base of Aoba, which is next to Espirito Santo, being occupied by the Japanese. Then USS Sargo sent up some fireworks at Luganville by hitting an xAK. The escorts in the Japanese TF hit the Sargo four times in return, but the damage was minor and Sargo will be repaired quickly.
Next, USS Tautog hit an xAK near Kobe with four torpedoes, but all were duds. So the skipper of the Tautog went to the surface and started to hit the Japanese freighter with shells from the sub's deck gun. But by the time the Tautog's gunners got in 5 hits on the ship they were low on gun ammo and had to leave.
The Day phase started out with a surprise as British Hurricanes from the Indo-Burma border bases started to sweep in to Mandalay at high altitudes. I hadn't ordered them to do that, but I had ordered the B-17Es at Dacca to fly a High Altitude Bombing Run against Mandalay, so I guess that the Fighter Units were attempting to sweep ahead of the bombing attack.
The first Hurricane attack saw 7 Hurricanes against 10 Oscars. The Hurricanes had the advantage and ended up shooting down two Oscars for the loss of one Hurricane. Next 8 more Hurricanes swept in against 2 Oscars. The Oscars were damaged, but none were reported shot down.
Only later on in the day did the Bomber Attack show up with 13 B-17Es at 36,600 feet being met by a lone Oscar that struggled to catch up to the bombers. When the Oscar did arrive it was greeted by plenty of 50 cal MG fire and dove away in trouble. As expected, the Forts did not hit their targets on the ground but it did test out my experiement – the B-17s did not attempt to go down to engage the Oscar; instead the Oscar came up in an attempt to attack.
At the end the Aircraft Losses page showed 5 Oscars lost to A-to-A and Ops losses, against 4 Hurricanes and no B-17s. So all-in-all, it wasn't a bad experiment, although next time I'll make certain that my Hurricanes are not flying with Drop Tanks.
The only other Air Action was at Yenan where my opponent continues to bomb the base. This is probably meant to be a Distraction, because a Japanese column that is due east of Sian appears to be attempting to move to the north in order to cut off the base and to also avoid doing a River Crossing. I'll just move troops north too.
And the Big News was that a massive number of Allied ships started clogging up the Repair yards as the June 1942 upgrades started. I have lots of ships out to sea that also need the upgrade, so this will be a busy month for the ports. But I love ASW and AA, so I'm happy to see both get installed on my ships. And better yet, a number of transport ships are also getting a few deck guns so that they will be able to fire back at submarines.
The night phase started out with the dot island base of Aoba, which is next to Espirito Santo, being occupied by the Japanese. Then USS Sargo sent up some fireworks at Luganville by hitting an xAK. The escorts in the Japanese TF hit the Sargo four times in return, but the damage was minor and Sargo will be repaired quickly.
Next, USS Tautog hit an xAK near Kobe with four torpedoes, but all were duds. So the skipper of the Tautog went to the surface and started to hit the Japanese freighter with shells from the sub's deck gun. But by the time the Tautog's gunners got in 5 hits on the ship they were low on gun ammo and had to leave.
The Day phase started out with a surprise as British Hurricanes from the Indo-Burma border bases started to sweep in to Mandalay at high altitudes. I hadn't ordered them to do that, but I had ordered the B-17Es at Dacca to fly a High Altitude Bombing Run against Mandalay, so I guess that the Fighter Units were attempting to sweep ahead of the bombing attack.
The first Hurricane attack saw 7 Hurricanes against 10 Oscars. The Hurricanes had the advantage and ended up shooting down two Oscars for the loss of one Hurricane. Next 8 more Hurricanes swept in against 2 Oscars. The Oscars were damaged, but none were reported shot down.
Only later on in the day did the Bomber Attack show up with 13 B-17Es at 36,600 feet being met by a lone Oscar that struggled to catch up to the bombers. When the Oscar did arrive it was greeted by plenty of 50 cal MG fire and dove away in trouble. As expected, the Forts did not hit their targets on the ground but it did test out my experiement – the B-17s did not attempt to go down to engage the Oscar; instead the Oscar came up in an attempt to attack.
At the end the Aircraft Losses page showed 5 Oscars lost to A-to-A and Ops losses, against 4 Hurricanes and no B-17s. So all-in-all, it wasn't a bad experiment, although next time I'll make certain that my Hurricanes are not flying with Drop Tanks.
The only other Air Action was at Yenan where my opponent continues to bomb the base. This is probably meant to be a Distraction, because a Japanese column that is due east of Sian appears to be attempting to move to the north in order to cut off the base and to also avoid doing a River Crossing. I'll just move troops north too.
And the Big News was that a massive number of Allied ships started clogging up the Repair yards as the June 1942 upgrades started. I have lots of ships out to sea that also need the upgrade, so this will be a busy month for the ports. But I love ASW and AA, so I'm happy to see both get installed on my ships. And better yet, a number of transport ships are also getting a few deck guns so that they will be able to fire back at submarines.
Subs Getting Chased
June 2, 1942 -
The Night phase was quiet, with only a couple of PBs unsuccessfully chasing USS Permit off of Balabac.
Daylight brought out the Japanese Army Air Force over Yenan again, with plenty of Oscars escorting bombers. They aren't doing a lot, and I can't do anything about it anyway, so I'm just ignoring it.
On the other hand, some Oscars swept Sian, and were followed by bombers escorted by Oscars. Now, this is a case where I can do something, so I moved the Chinese P-43 squadron to a nearby base and set the planes to LR CAP at Max Altitude over Sian. If the Japanese come back again the Lancers ought to cause them a bit of trouble.
And to end the day, USS Seadragon was chased unsuccessfully by a couple of DDs off of Balikpapan. My opponent is starting to try to chase my subs; I guess he is getting tired of their occasional successes.
In other news, the Burmese Rifle unit and the British Base Force that were driven out of Bhamo reached Myitkyina this turn. But they aren't getting any rest there because I ordered them to immediately start the trek to Warazup. And once they get there it is off into the Jungle for a month or so until they reach the Rail Line in India and can ride on to their eventual back water destinations for R&R.
BTW – the Japanese column in Katha is still in Katha, despite having a “movement mark” on them that is pointed along the road to Myitkyina. I bet that my opponent is having a bit of difficulty keeping them supplied. At this rate the Japanese troops won't reach Myitkyina for several more weeks. And once the Japanese troops get a little further along the road I'll bomb them again, just to keep everything “honest”.
The Big News of the Day is that USS Houston finally got out the Repair Yard, almost six months after the Ambush at Ambon. There were plenty of times that I thought I would lose the ship, but it survived and is now Ready for Action once again.
And finally, I am accelerating my movement of Troops into the North. The Gulf of Alaska Operation has been very enlightening for me. I am using it as a Practice Run for a mass multi-base invasion of an Island Group, and I have learned a tremendous amount of what Works Well, and what Works Poorly.
The Night phase was quiet, with only a couple of PBs unsuccessfully chasing USS Permit off of Balabac.
Daylight brought out the Japanese Army Air Force over Yenan again, with plenty of Oscars escorting bombers. They aren't doing a lot, and I can't do anything about it anyway, so I'm just ignoring it.
On the other hand, some Oscars swept Sian, and were followed by bombers escorted by Oscars. Now, this is a case where I can do something, so I moved the Chinese P-43 squadron to a nearby base and set the planes to LR CAP at Max Altitude over Sian. If the Japanese come back again the Lancers ought to cause them a bit of trouble.
And to end the day, USS Seadragon was chased unsuccessfully by a couple of DDs off of Balikpapan. My opponent is starting to try to chase my subs; I guess he is getting tired of their occasional successes.
In other news, the Burmese Rifle unit and the British Base Force that were driven out of Bhamo reached Myitkyina this turn. But they aren't getting any rest there because I ordered them to immediately start the trek to Warazup. And once they get there it is off into the Jungle for a month or so until they reach the Rail Line in India and can ride on to their eventual back water destinations for R&R.
BTW – the Japanese column in Katha is still in Katha, despite having a “movement mark” on them that is pointed along the road to Myitkyina. I bet that my opponent is having a bit of difficulty keeping them supplied. At this rate the Japanese troops won't reach Myitkyina for several more weeks. And once the Japanese troops get a little further along the road I'll bomb them again, just to keep everything “honest”.
The Big News of the Day is that USS Houston finally got out the Repair Yard, almost six months after the Ambush at Ambon. There were plenty of times that I thought I would lose the ship, but it survived and is now Ready for Action once again.
And finally, I am accelerating my movement of Troops into the North. The Gulf of Alaska Operation has been very enlightening for me. I am using it as a Practice Run for a mass multi-base invasion of an Island Group, and I have learned a tremendous amount of what Works Well, and what Works Poorly.
Just Dots on a Map
June 3, 1942 -
The Night Phase was quite other than some dot island called something like Nouconti being automatically occupied by the Japanese.
Daylight brought Japanese bomber attacks on Yenan, Tennant Creek, and Dutch stragglers in Sumatra. But what it didn't bring was a Japanese Air Attack on Sian, so my Trap remained empty and all that happened was that the Chinese P-43 squadron accumulated some Fatigue. The Weather Forecast is calling for End-of-the-World Weather for the entire northern third of the Map for next turn, so I just sat down the P-43s under the assumption that it will be difficult for my opponent to send an Air Raid against Sian next turn, and regardless, it will also be better for my P-43 pilots to rest.
SIGINT reported something sort of interesting for a change – a JAAF BF is being shipped to Horn Island. So my opponent is continuing to build up the PNG/Northeastern Oz region. Just-In-Case I sent a Dutch sub to Horn Island from the area in front of Port Moresby where it has been patrolling. We'll see if the Dutch skipper gets lucky.
It appears that Luganville may be being used as a Sub Tender base, since there is a ship in the Port but not much else going on. I considered sending the Hornet CG over for a look, but then I realized that the Catalinas in Noumea can easily reach Luganville with bombs, so I set the Cats on Port Attack for next turn. If it turns out that there are more interesting Targets in Luganville than I currently suspect I can still send the Hornet and Gang over for a look-see. Luganville is still a Level 0 Airbase so I can send bombers in past Escort Range without concern for CAP.
Otherwise, my opponent is back to sending out multiple Recon flights over the various Allied bases on the Indo/Burmese border. That's fine, the Recons will report back that there are fighters at each of the bases. If my opponent wants to risk the Weather and my Stratospheric Hurricanes, he is welcome to try.
And I am still busy untangling the minor messes that I got myself into in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutians. I have too many bases where I either have Engineers and no Base Force, or a Base Force and no Engineers. And I'm still scratching my head as to why I started to build up some bases and not others. Oh well, it's all a Learning Experience.
The Night Phase was quite other than some dot island called something like Nouconti being automatically occupied by the Japanese.
Daylight brought Japanese bomber attacks on Yenan, Tennant Creek, and Dutch stragglers in Sumatra. But what it didn't bring was a Japanese Air Attack on Sian, so my Trap remained empty and all that happened was that the Chinese P-43 squadron accumulated some Fatigue. The Weather Forecast is calling for End-of-the-World Weather for the entire northern third of the Map for next turn, so I just sat down the P-43s under the assumption that it will be difficult for my opponent to send an Air Raid against Sian next turn, and regardless, it will also be better for my P-43 pilots to rest.
SIGINT reported something sort of interesting for a change – a JAAF BF is being shipped to Horn Island. So my opponent is continuing to build up the PNG/Northeastern Oz region. Just-In-Case I sent a Dutch sub to Horn Island from the area in front of Port Moresby where it has been patrolling. We'll see if the Dutch skipper gets lucky.
It appears that Luganville may be being used as a Sub Tender base, since there is a ship in the Port but not much else going on. I considered sending the Hornet CG over for a look, but then I realized that the Catalinas in Noumea can easily reach Luganville with bombs, so I set the Cats on Port Attack for next turn. If it turns out that there are more interesting Targets in Luganville than I currently suspect I can still send the Hornet and Gang over for a look-see. Luganville is still a Level 0 Airbase so I can send bombers in past Escort Range without concern for CAP.
Otherwise, my opponent is back to sending out multiple Recon flights over the various Allied bases on the Indo/Burmese border. That's fine, the Recons will report back that there are fighters at each of the bases. If my opponent wants to risk the Weather and my Stratospheric Hurricanes, he is welcome to try.
And I am still busy untangling the minor messes that I got myself into in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutians. I have too many bases where I either have Engineers and no Base Force, or a Base Force and no Engineers. And I'm still scratching my head as to why I started to build up some bases and not others. Oh well, it's all a Learning Experience.
Salmon Bites a Maru
June 4, 1942 -
The Highlight of this turn for the Allies was USS Salmon putting a torpedo into an xAK off of Saigon. The xAK likely went down, and the Salmon got away safely.
Daylight brought the usual fare. First off, just to get things out of the way, a report was received from Noumea that all Air Missions were scrubbed due to Weather. So whatever is sitting in Luganville Harbor got to sit there safely for yet another day.
Then it was the Japanese turn, and surprisingly enough, only one Air Attack flew, and this one was against Dutch stragglers in Sumatra. But afterwards I noticed that the Japanese took a half dozen Operational Losses, so my opponent was obviously trying to do something in various places.
The Reinforcement Phase brought one of those incomprehensible things – in this case the British (T) Group RAF Air HQ. It arrived in Lahore. Now, I'm not one to turn my nose on any Air HQ, but something seems a bit odd about this arrival. It is a Restricted HQ that belongs to AHQ India (R), can't be switched to any other command, is static, and despite the fact that it is in Lahore, which is at the foot of the Himalayas, it has a Torpedo Ordnance of 100!
Huh? Just which Allied plane is going to use Torpedoes way off in Lahore – B-29s? Nothing else can reach the Indian Ocean from there. (Maybe they are assuming that the Japanese will sail up the Ganges, or some other river...)
The Mind Boggles... [8|]
In other news, the big Japanese LCU column on the road to Myitkyina finally moved one hex away from Katha.
Hmmm... Katha is now empty...
Just where is that Viper Para unit?
The Highlight of this turn for the Allies was USS Salmon putting a torpedo into an xAK off of Saigon. The xAK likely went down, and the Salmon got away safely.
Daylight brought the usual fare. First off, just to get things out of the way, a report was received from Noumea that all Air Missions were scrubbed due to Weather. So whatever is sitting in Luganville Harbor got to sit there safely for yet another day.
Then it was the Japanese turn, and surprisingly enough, only one Air Attack flew, and this one was against Dutch stragglers in Sumatra. But afterwards I noticed that the Japanese took a half dozen Operational Losses, so my opponent was obviously trying to do something in various places.
The Reinforcement Phase brought one of those incomprehensible things – in this case the British (T) Group RAF Air HQ. It arrived in Lahore. Now, I'm not one to turn my nose on any Air HQ, but something seems a bit odd about this arrival. It is a Restricted HQ that belongs to AHQ India (R), can't be switched to any other command, is static, and despite the fact that it is in Lahore, which is at the foot of the Himalayas, it has a Torpedo Ordnance of 100!
Huh? Just which Allied plane is going to use Torpedoes way off in Lahore – B-29s? Nothing else can reach the Indian Ocean from there. (Maybe they are assuming that the Japanese will sail up the Ganges, or some other river...)
The Mind Boggles... [8|]
In other news, the big Japanese LCU column on the road to Myitkyina finally moved one hex away from Katha.
Hmmm... Katha is now empty...
Just where is that Viper Para unit?